Children's Safety Zone
Mikelle Biggs Story Index
Contact The Mesa Police Department immediately with any new information!
Mesa Police, Criminal Investigations 480-644-4078, Sgt. Steven Stahl, steven_stahl@mesa.ci.mesa.az.us
There have been prayer services and vigils, the release of home video clips, an appearance by her parents on a national talk show, even an auction to raise reward money.
All to keep alive the hope that someone somewhere knows where Mikelle Biggs is or knows what happened to the 11-year-old Mesa girl.
Mikelle has been in the spotlight almost every day since she disappeared, one month ago today, while waiting for an ice cream truck.
"Where to go from here? I don't know," said Mikelle's mother, Tracy. "It's just a matter of coming up with more things to do. We've done so much in such a short period of time that we've got to start racking our brains.
"We're not going to stop."
But to continue to keep the spotlight on Mikelle's case will be a challenge. Tips called in to police have diminished to a trickle of what they were in the beginning. The Mesa Police Department has run out of new information to release. The "Missing" fliers, posted on street corners and in store windows, are beginning to come down.
"We're certainly struggling at this point to keep it in the public eye, and it's becoming more and more difficult," said Kym Pasqualini, director of the Nation's Missing Children Organization in Phoenix. "We're asking people to make the commitment to keep the fliers up until she's found or there are answers.
"If it was their child, they'd want people to stay involved."
Since Mikelle disappeared Jan. 2, her case has garnered more publicity than any other missing child in the Valley's recent history. More than 100,000 fliers have papered the Valley. Large, full-color, vinyl magnets are on the sides of some cars. Billboards have gone up. There are Web sites dedicated solely to finding Mikelle.
"You can never give up on your child, so you can't quit hoping to find them," Tracy Biggs said. "We'll never give up hope of finding her. We'll never quit looking for her."
People still send cards, gifts and prayers to the Biggs family. They still volunteer to help with anything that comes up. Some call daily to offer whatever support they can.
But days go by, and other lives start to return to normal, and cases like Mikelle's get pushed to the backs of people's minds.
"Have they forgotten that Myron Traylor is still missing?" Pasqualini asked, referring to the 13-year-old Phoenix boy who disappeared in July 1988. "Unless we're reminded in our daily lives, then we go on. But the family sure doesn't."
Nick Orlando, a friend of the Biggs family, already sees children walking alone again to and from school in Mikelle's neighborhood.
"The reality is that we have short memories," Orlando said. "My hope, my dream is that everybody will remember this and keep it in their memories until she's found, but that's not going to happen."
How is it possible to keep Mikelle's name in the news and to keep people interested in her plight as the days stretch on? Will more fund-raisers keep the information trickling in? Or will people begin to say, "What? Again?"
Tracy Biggs believes that the public will continue to be galvanized by Mikelle's story and will continue to show its support when asked. More carwashes are in the works, and Tracy and her husband, Darien, hope to appear on more national talk shows. There is talk of a hot-air balloon event for Mikelle.
"As long as we can, we're going to keep trying," Tracy Biggs said. "I keep thinking this will be over before we run out of ideas.
"Basically, we just really want whoever has her to know that we want closure. Somehow, someway, we need to know where she's at."
Mikelle was waiting for an ice cream truck at El Moro Avenue and Toltec Street when she disappeared. Only a bike and two quarters were left behind. Police are working under the theory that Mikelle was abducted, but they have no evidence to prove it.
More than 4,000 tips have been called in to police. In the beginning, there were 25 an hour. Now police aren't getting that many in a whole day. Some days, there's only enough to keep 10 officers busy; at one point, about 100 worked the case.
Police have been door-to-door in Mikelle's neighborhood a couple of times. They've had two roadblocks. They've put out a composite of a suspected molester. They looked for - and eventually found and discounted - a copper-colored Jeep. They've brought out their head criminalist to talk about the role DNA plays in such an investigation.
There's been a DARE graduation at Mikelle's school. A $60,000 reward fund. A segment on America's Most Wanted. Last week, Mikelle's parents appeared on the Leeza show. And when new information slowed down, police released a home video of Mikelle.
"It's going to get to the point where a lot of the general public is going to start paying attention to other things," Mesa police Sgt. Earle Lloyd said. "We wanted to try and keep it in the public eye, but there comes a point where we run out of things to release. We, as a police department, are really at a loss."
The problem with Mikelle's case is that police don't really know what they're looking for. Nobody saw or heard anything when the girl disappeared. There's nothing really that the public can look for anymore.
But there's still more that Pasqualini can do.
She continues to distribute fliers throughout the country. She's trying to get local companies to include copies of the fliers with their mass mailings. She's looking for corporate sponsorships to put full-color vinyl posters on the sides of big-rig trucks.
As anniversaries accumulate and Mikelle's birthday comes in May, there will be public events to remind people. There might be a vigil where she disappeared or the release of balloons. Her name can be mentioned at services for other missing children. Her picture can be shown again at sporting events.
"We've done it all at this point, but we're not giving up," Pasqualini said. "We keep the hope that she's alive and she's out there and she will come home.
"We'll continue to support the family and to put her face out there until there is an answer."
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Reproduced with permission from: The Arizona Republic Written by: Judi Villa ©Copyright 1999 Arizona Republic |
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